For example, Livonia, Mich.-based Tower Automotive leased 460,000 square feet at the former Rubbermaid manufacturing facility at 17300 W. Broadway Lane in Goodyear. The deal marks the largest industrial lease in Arizona so far this year.

Doug Heller, Eric Dienstbach and Rob Gemerchak with Philadelphia-based Binswanger represented both the tenant and the landlord, Horsham, Pa.-based BET Investments, in the transaction. Binswanger announced the lease, but did not identify the tenant.

Several industrial real estate experts in the Valley confirm the tenant is Tower Automotive, which is known for supplying vehicle structural parts and assemblies. The company diversified its business by signing an agreement with Scottsdale-based Stirling Energy Systems to manufacture the faceted mirror component for the SunCatcher CSP for use in systems installed in North America by Tessera Solar. Both SES and Tessera are owned by parent company NTR Plc., a renewable energy group based in Dublin, Ireland.

Tower Automotive will eventually employ 200 people at the 750,000-square-foot Goodyear facility, which was vacated by Rubbermaid in 2005. The company is eligible for tax credits and property tax reductions under the 2010 Arizona Department of Commerce Renewable Energy Incentive Program (REIP, SB1403), which provides a financially attractive package for renewable energy manufacturing firms.

Under this REIP program, companies can apply for income tax credits based on the dollar amount of capital investment and the number of new, full-time, above-median-wage jobs with health benefits that are created as a result of investment. Property tax incentives, which also depend on the size of the project and the wages that are paid, reduce applicable real property and personal property taxes for up to 15 years.

In addition to Tower Automotive, Scottsdale-based American Solar Electric also is expanding in the Valley. The company, which is one of Arizona's largest designers and installers of solarelectric systems, recently established a central distribution facility in Phoenix near Broadway Road and 40th Street that will support new operations in the West Valley, Tucson and northern Arizona.

American Solar Electric will consolidate warehouse and project staging operations at a new facility in Phoenix in the vicinity of Broadway Road and 40th Street. The facility will support thecompany's existing East Valley construction facility in Tempe and a planned West Valley construction facility.

The company is evaluating several properties in the Goodyear and Glendale markets for its West Valley construction facility is under consideration and the company, but has not made a decision according to spokeswoman Krystal Book.